Your first BACKSTAGE event is here. And we are not starting small.

Rufi Thorpe, the author of Margo’s Got Money Troubles, is joining us live for an intimate conversation inside the BACKSTAGE community. If you’ve been watching the Apple TV+ series (premiering April 15, one week before we meet), you already know why this matters. If you read the book when we first covered it in our Addiction Fiction section two years ago, you’ve been waiting for this moment.

This is not a panel. This is not a press junket. This is a small, private group conversation with the woman who created Margo, Jinx, Shyanne, and one of the most talked-about stories in pop culture right now.

We will talk about the book. The show. The characters. What it means to write addiction and recovery as just part of who a person is, instead of a plot device or a cautionary tale.

This event is exclusively for BACKSTAGE Founding Members.

BWhat does it mean to make art from the inside out? Not from a place of performance or persona, but from the actual interior of a life rebuilt? Two of the most recent guests on The Creative Sober Podcast are answering that question from the same corner of the country, Washington State, and through the same genre: hip-hop.

Coaster (S5E06) and JHenry (S5E07) don't share a sound. They don't share the same story. But they share something harder to name, a commitment to making music that costs something, rooted in the real work of recovery, identity, and showing up for their communities.

Here’s what nobody tells you about sober dating: it’s actually better. Not “better considering” — just better. You show up as yourself, you remember everything, and the chemistry you feel is real. No asterisks.

In your drinking days, the plan was basically: show up, order something, order another something, and hope the dim lighting and lowered inhibitions did the rest. (Chemistry! Or at least a convincing impression of it.)

Take alcohol out of the equation and suddenly you realize: we have to actually plan this thing.

We stayed at Dollywood's HeartSong Lodge & Resort, and the moment you walk through those doors, you are engulfed in a not-so-subtle huge portrait of Dolly hanging over a fireplace, paying tribute to Dolly's seven-decade career. Alysse and I stood there for a solid minute like golden retrievers who'd just discovered a sprinkler. Mouths slightly open. Fully enchanted.

Justin Lamb explores a thought-provoking question that many of us face: how many things do we need to be sober from? From California reds to endless scrolling, he examines how we might be trading one numbing mechanism for another. This honest look at modern sobriety challenges us to consider whether our screens have become the new way to avoid those big feelings we once dulled with substances.

Sarah Alaimo shares how her son Jack (the self-appointed COO of their household) and her sobriety journey have revolutionized her understanding of authentic leadership. Forget the polished, performative version—real leadership is about presence, steadiness, and building genuine community. This heartfelt piece reveals how the most unexpected teachers often deliver the most profound lessons.

He was 20 years old, one of the most famous people on the planet, and he was showing up to work hungover.

Not once. Not occasionally. Regularly. Daniel Radcliffe has said he sometimes filmed scenes for Harry Potter while still under the influence, or close enough to it that the line had stopped mattering.

He wasn’t partying. He was coping. There’s a difference, and he’s been honest about that difference in a way that most people in his position never are.

For anyone struggling, know that help is available: 📞 1-800-662-HELP (SAMHSA Helpline).

Something happened to us over those ten days. And I don't think we're talking about it enough.

Collective joy is necessary for recovery. Really necessary. And for ten days in April, the moon, four astronauts, NASA, and a floating jar of Nutella gave us exactly that.

Let me explain.

The Guest House is a five-day guided email experience created by Sober Curator contributors Anne Marie Cribbin and Amy Liz Harrison for anyone living with illness, chronic pain, recovery, or a body that does not always cooperate.

Inspired by Rumi’s poem The Guest House, this low-pressure offering invites participants to meet their lived experience with curiosity, softness, and radical self-hospitality. Each day includes a gentle reflection delivered by email, with an audio option available for days when reading feels like too much.

There is nothing to complete, nothing to perfect, and no pressure to perform wellness. Just a quiet space to feel seen, supported, and reminded that you are not alone.